As a talk show host, I notice trends in attitudes with the audience, and there has been a distinct trend in attitudes since President Biden dropped out of the race and VP Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee.
What I have heard from callers and read in texts and on comments posted on the Scoot On The Air Facebook page is an aggressive new trend in defending Donald Trump from any and all criticism. A simple critical opinion about what Trump said or did is attacked as if it were a blasphemous condemnation. Mentioning an obvious and quickly fact-checked lie told by Trump (like the wild helicopter story, or the unsubstantiated comments about Kamala Harris’ crowd sizes), some Trump supporters seem possessed by a new attack mentality. When did Americans lose the right to have an opinion about a presidential candidate? The answer: NEVER!
We can theorize as to why some Trump supporters have suddenly become so overly sensitive, but the fact remains that this is a new ramping up of emotions since Biden dropped out of the race.
My theory is that since Harris has been shifting the polls, even in battleground states where Trump had been the clear leader, there is a subconscious sense of desperation being felt by some Trump followers and a new-found fear that he might not win in November. Many Trump supporters have so personally linked their lives and their very beings to Trump and all that he represents to them that there may be a feeling that if Trump loses then those loyal Trump supporters are losers.
On July 22, a blog I wrote said:
Disagreement over opinions of a candidate or what a candidate says or
does are now interpreted as a disagreement with the individual voters
supporting either candidate. There is no longer separation between a
candidate and an individual voter who supports that candidate and this
has led to perilous times when it comes to political discourse in
America.
The personalization of politics does not apply to every American, but it is obvious that too many Americans are equating their support of a candidate with a definition of who they are as people. The lack of tolerance for differing opinions in this election year of 2024 is unique and destructive. The loss of respect we should have for being Americans with different opinions is obvious.
Americans have always disagreed on candidates, but what is new is the instinct to attack the person with whom one disagrees. The freedom to criticize a presidential candidate is baked into the foundation of politics in America.
Feelings are getting hurt over my opinion about something Donald Trump said or did, and any challenge is met with degrading comments and a question of whether I even have the right to question Trump.
I am a registered Independent and a Radical Moderate, meaning I have strong opinions about every issue, but not every opinion is right or left. I am like most Americans. Most Americans are not strictly right or left and we make up the majority of this country.
The other thing is that people have a difficult time figuring out anyone who is not strictly right or left. They seemed confused and become suspicious of anyone who is difficult to define, yet, most of America is not strictly right or left.
Today on my show, I criticized the Harris campaign for altering actual headlines to make them appear to be supportive of the campaign. But so many Trump followers listen with a biased ear and don’t hear the times I am critical of the left. Bias is powerful and it’s getting old when a listener accuses me of never attacking the left when I do.
This trend of protective attacks from Trump supporters over my opinions gained momentum when Biden dropped out and Harris became a serious challenge to Trump. A lot can happen between now and November, but this trend will continue.
I will no longer respond to every Facebook post or every email attacking me for simply having a different opinion, and I patently disregard the absurd notion that having a different opinion equals spreading hate. There is no correlation between a different opinion and hate.
This is the United States of America and I will continue to be honest with my opinions - and I would expect you to do the same. But don’t confuse opinions with spreading hate.
